Gas turbine engines, such as those utilized in commercial aircraft, include multiple rotors and stators configured to enable optimal operation. Turbine engines maintain an optimal clearance (distance) between the tips of the rotors and an outside diameter of the gas path, and thereby provide the conditions necessary to achieve a desired performance.
The gas turbine performance is validated, in part, by measuring the blade tip clearance. In order to measure the tip clearance, one or more tip clearance probes are used to measure the rotor tip clearances. Over time, natural vibrations, and other wear and tear, damages the tip clearance probes. In one typical failure mode, an insulator breaks thus allowing the sensor component to drop from the tip clearance probe toward the rotor tips. As the sensor component drops, it is not uncommon for the sensor component to rotate. When a tip clearance probe has an angled sensor face, rotation of the sensor component can dramatically decrease the clearance between the sensor components and the rotor tips being monitored. If the clearance decreases too much, the tip clearance probe interferes with the rotors, exacerbating the damage beyond a failed sensor.